|
Name: Hygrophila polysperma |
| Care |
Gravel | Light |
|
Origin: India |
|
Easy |
Plain |
Bright |
The Dwarf Hygrophila is a really popular plant among aquarium hobbyists. It is extremely fast growing with good light and CO2 injection. This is one of the main plants in my aquarium and probably the fastest grower. If you're looking for a plant that will add a thick bushy garden look to your aquarium this is the plant for you. It's really easy to grow and it will multiply just by putting the clippings back into the gravel, even a free floating leaf of this plant will make an entire new plant!
This plant is my favorite. It is extremely easy to grow but to have great success, you need adequate lighting and nutrients. The addition of homemade CO2 is going to insure that this plant thrives in your aquarium. Clippings from this plant can be planted in the gravel and they will grow whole new plants. My Cardinal Tetras love to seek shelter in and around these beautiful bushy plants. Regular clipping is a must or this plant will quickly overcome your entire aquarium. A small 40-80 liter rooting tank will allow you to maximize the propagation of this plant.
My experience with dwarf hygro has been great. When I was trying to plant my tank, I didn't have the best lighting, but I didn't realize that. Even with those lights, it has grown like a weed! It creates a beautiful background plant for your planted aquarium.
This plant loves sunlight. Make sure you root them into the gravel. It is the easiest plant to keep in my view. The only way to kill this plant is not to clean your tank for a couple of months and deprivation of their light source.
I have one of these beautiful plants in my 140 litre aquarium, and at first it was doing well. It was bushy and started throwing up 2 long shoots. I let these reach the surface, but after about a week I noticed the under leaves were shedding when I was doing a water change. The two shoots' leaves also started going long and leggy, and the plant looked a mess. I then moved the plant in to a centre position and it began to grow a lot better, and new shoots began to sprout from the bare stems! So I then pruned the two large shoots, replanted them in the substrate, and I had another plant! Given bright light and nutrients, plus some dose of CO2 and regular water changes, this plant will make a wonderful bushy background that will quickly multiply if you help it along the way.
Dwarf Hygrophila is a great plant! This was the first live plant I ever tried, and they are doing great! A friend of mine gave me two little shoots to try, and now I have three huge plants. They are great looking plants and very easy to keep.
I've had the same group of hygro in my tank for several years, through four different locations. With hard, alkaline water, it survived and grew, but with long thin looking leaves that were quite far apart on the stem. As soon as I got it to a spot where I had softer water I saw it's growth get much denser, with smaller leaves of a more brilliant green that were much closer together on the stem. It looks wonderful now, glowing from the tank. Another thing I've noticed with hygro is it's peculiarities in rooting. It takes a while to make the transition from free floating roots to thinner, more robust roots in the sediment, but eventually it will do this. Keep in mind that if you want it to branch intensely it's best to let it float for a while, in straight horizontal growth it branches and roots at almost every leaf point. Smaller floating pieces may grow into odd shapes resembling spokes on a wheel. My female betta and sword tail fry love the floating tangle, and it provides an endless stock of new planting material
This stuff is amazing. When carpeting out an aquarium floor, you only really need to buy two bunches and plant them, and then let your water start cycling. By the time your water is mostly cycled, this plant will be tall enough to clip and replant the rest of your aquarium. You can save money with this plant by only buying enough for half of your aquarium and then clipping and replanting the rest. Definitely a must have. Cheap too. Easy to care for.
No registration necessary to contribute. Your privacy is respected: your e-mail is published only if you wish so. All submissions are reviewed before addition. Write based on your personal experiences, with no abbreviations, no chat lingo, and using proper punctuation and capitalization. Ready? Then send your comments!
